Eleven swimmers from Bluffton schools swam at the Great Lakes YMCA Zones Swimming Championship at Bowling Green State University March 19-21.
The 2021 event had 800 swimmers from teams in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia.
Jenna Downey, Camden Verb and Riley Verb swim for the Putnam County YMCA swim team under assistant coach, Bob Verb of Bluffton.
Jackson Bowlus, Allison Diller, Kari Diller, Xavier Diller, June Essinger, Levin Essinger, Mason Shank and Madelyn Sterrett swim for the Lima YMCA swim team coached by April Dorman of Bluffton. In the summer, they all swim for the Bluffton Sardines.
Results from the weekend are below; PR indicates the swimmer’s fastest time for the season.
Jackson Bowlus, 13-14 boys
50 backstroke :27:71 (PR) placed 9 of 17 swimmers
50 freestyle :24:35 (PR) placed 18 out of 58 swimmers
100 backstroke 1:00:24 (PR) placed 13 out of 26 swimmers
200 medley relay 1:52:60 placed 6 out of 11 teams
200 freestyle relay 1:43:27 placed 8 out of 12 teams
• Scored 13 points for the Lima team
Jenna Downey, 13-14 girls
50 freestyle :27:26 placed 35 out of 75 swimmers
50 butterfly :30:86 placed 36 out of 46 swimmers
100 freestyle 1:01:96 placed 32 out of 36 swimmers
Alison Diller, 15 and over girls
50 freestyle :27:63 placed 63 out of 78 swimmers
50 breaststroke :34:87 placed 24 out of 29 swimmers
100 breaststroke 1:15:17 placed 27 out of 35 swimmers
200 medley relay 1:59:84 placed 16 out of 17 teams
400 freestyle relay 4:06:38 placed 12 out of 14 teams
Kari Diller, 9-10 girls
100 backstroke 1:11:39 (PR) placed 3 out of 15 swimmers
50 backstroke :35:15 placed 8 out of 31 swimmers
50 freestyle :30:04 placed 8 out of 40 swimmers
200 medley relay 2:21:39 placed 4 out of 7 relays
200 freestyle relay 2:11:28 placed 4 out of 7 relays
• Scored 38 points for the Lima team
Xavier Diller, 13-14 boys
50 freestyle :26:18 placed 45 out of 58 swimmers
50 breaststroke :35:07 placed 16 out of 17 swimmers
100 freestyle :59:33 placed 31 out of 35 swimmers
200 medley relay 1:52:60 placed 6 out of 11 teams
200 freestyle relay 1:43:27 placed 8 out of 12 teams
• Scored 1 point for the Lima team
June Essinger, 13-14 girls
50 freestyle :27:53 (PR) placed 48 out of 75 swimmers
100 butterfly 1:07:68 placed 22 out of 24 swimmers
50 breaststroke :36:81 placed 28 out of 30 swimmers
50 butterfly :29:76 (PR) placed 23 out of 46 swimmers
200 medley relay 2:04:35 placed 14 out of 16 teams
Levin Essinger, 9-10 boys
100 freestyle 1:20:19 placed 11 out of 12 swimmers
100 breaststroke 1:36:59 placed 3 out of 3 swimmers
50 freestyle :38:25 placed 31
50 breaststroke :42:87 placed 11 out of 13 swimmers
• Scored 28 points for the Lima team
Mason Shank, 11-12 boys
100 individual medley 1:08:11 (PR) placed 7 out of 11 swimmers
100 breaststroke 1:15:32 (PR) placed 4 out of 12 swimmers
50 freestyle :26:88 (PR) placed 8 out of 34 swimmers
50 breaststroke :33:96 placed 3 out of 15 swimmers
200 medley relay 2:07:14 placed 6 out of 7 teams
• Scored 54 points for the Lima team
Madelyn Sterrett, 9-10 girls
100 breaststroke 1:32:06 (PR) placed 9 out of 10 swimmers
50 backstroke :38:46 (PR) placed 22 out of 31 swimmers
50 breaststroke :43:35 placed 14 out of 18 swimmers
200 medley relay 2:21:39 placed 4 out of 7 teams
200 freestyle relay 2:11:28 placed 4 out of 7 teams
• Scored 12 points for the Lima team
Camden Verb, 9-10 boys
50 backstroke :38:50 placed 15 out of 22 swimmers
50 freestyle :31:26 (PR) placed 14 out of 31 swimmers
50 breaststroke :44:72 (PR) placed 13
100 individual medley 1:22:44 placed 13 out of 16 swimmers
• Scored 13 points for the Putnam team
Riley Verb, 15 and over boys
200 breaststroke 2:19:06 (PR) placed 11 out of 24 swimmers
50 breaststroke :28:88 (PR) placed 10 out of 27 swimmers
100 backstroke :57:19 placed 9 out of 23 swimmers
50 backstroke :26:05 (PR) placed 5 out of 28 swimmers
50 freestyle :24:26 (PR) placed 44 out of 69 swimmers
• Scored 36 points for the Putnam team
The Lima YMCA finished 10th and the Putnam County YMCA finished 34th out of 59 teams.
The Great Lakes YMCA Zones Swimming Championship is held every year for top swimmers from the YMCA swim teams from a five-state region.
Swimmers met qualifying times to be invited to the meet. Zone qualifying times are based on the top times of the region from the previous year. Competitors often represent the top 10 percent of the fastest swimmers in their state, in their age group. Due to COVID restrictions, swimmers were limited to swimming five events at Zones in 2021 even if they qualified for more events.
